Ongoing trials

• Utilization of accounting's standard transaction data

  The aim of the experiment is to verify how accounting’s standard transaction-level information would serve the needs of authorities and other data users, such as auditors and financial institutions, and could partially replace reporting to several different authorities. The purpose is to lighten the administrative notification and reporting obligations of companies in the future. We are also investigating a standard way of presenting the information, which would enable the automated utilization of the information, also in the company’s own systems.

  The trial uses the XBRL GL specification as the file format. The standardisation of the data content is based on the Liikekirjuri account chart and additional monitoring objects that can be standardised.

  Participants

  Finnish Tax Administration, Statistics Finland and the financial administration service provider, audit firm and SMEs.

  Time

  04/2023 – 10/2023

  Goals

  • to demonstrate that transaction-level accounting information in a fixed form, standardised in terms of information content, is sufficient to cover various official reports, e.g., income tax, value-added tax and statistics notices
  • to test how the account chart and standardised monitoring items used by customers work in covering the information needs of the authorities
  • to ensure that financial management specialists can produce any necessary mappings between the charts of accounts and standardised monitoring items
  • to understand what the development of the capability requires from software vendors to get data out of the system in a inter-usable format
  • to understand how well the specifications being tested work in practice, and how much work the proposed procedure causes for client companies and software vendors, and correspondingly how much benefit can be achieved from it.

  Trial work in practice

  Accounting transactions are produced in XBRL GL format according to the sample file. The trial requires both synthetic and real data. Synthetic data is completely artificial, and to that extent, publicly open MiniSuomi is the trial platform. Regarding genuine data, processing is done only internally by government agencies. The data in the trial is processed in an information-secure manner.

  More about the trial:
  Elina Koskentalo, Arccos Consulting Oy, elina.koskentalo (at) arccos.fi

• Producing financial statements in digital format

  The trial determines how financial administration system suppliers could produce financial statements in a digital, i.e., structured format and transfer the information to the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) via an interface. In the trial, the content of an entire financial statement, profit and loss statements and annexes and other information will be produced in inline XBRL format.

  A further goal in the trial is to understand how companies can produce appendices and to what extent their content is worth producing in digital format, as well as how the information can be used. In addition, the effects of introducing inline XBRL reporting are to be investigated further.

  Participants

  PRH, Statistics Finland, Admicom Finland Oy and Oscar Software Oy.

  Time

  03 – 11/2023

  More about the trial:
  Juho Mäkinen, PRH, juho.makinen(at)prh.fi
  Elina Koskentalo, Arccos Consulting Oy, elina.koskentalo(at)arccos.fi

• Data transfer and use of e-invoices

  The trial tests the technical communication of e-invoices via an interface from the operator to data users. It is essential that the material can be converted to a structured form, making it better usable in statistics and automatically assignable to a VAT return.

  Another issue to be determined in the trial is whether the State Treasury can act as a data collector and intermediary for different agencies, for example Statistics Finland or the Tax Administration, in accordance with their access to information rights.

  Building information communication channels like this is part of the ecosystem work of the Real-Time Economy project.

  Participants

  Tax administration, Statistics Finland, State Treasure, Posti Messaging and TietoEVRY.

  Time

  Spring–autumn 2023.

  Goals

  • verify whether the technical communication of e-invoices works via an interface from the operator to the State Treasury
  • determine whether the retrieval of e-invoices from an interface works for Statistics Finland and the Finnish Tax Administration
  • study the usability of information obtained from e-invoicing in official reporting
  • determine the functionality of genuine business data, i.e., information obtained from e-invoicing, in the automation of VAT returns and statistical reporting
  • successfully produce a VAT return and describe items that are challenging to produce
  • describe the current implementation of information sourcing for use by different authorities and the effect of changes

  More about the trial:

  Read more about the goals of the trial: Lighter reporting and better statistics with e-invoicing, blog 29 March 2023.

  Maria Eskelinen, Tax Administration, maria.eskelinen(at)vero.fi
  Mika Lassander, Statistics Finland, mika.lassander(at)stat.fi
  Tomi Rusi, State Treasury, tomi.rusi(at)valtiokonttori.fi

• Simplifying reporting with a long profit and loss statement

  The trial aims to verify how a so-called long income statement and balance sheet presented at the detail level of general ledger accounts would serve the needs of various authorities and other users of information. The focus of the trial is studying the information needed for income tax reporting and statistics. The standardisation of the data content is based on the content of the Liikekirjuri account chart.

  Another aspect of the trial is a standard way of presenting information that would enable the automated use of information in different systems. This trial experiments with the XBRL GL specification as the file format.

  Participants

  Two software vendors participate in the trial: Accountor Finago Oy and Mediamaestro Oy. Kirjurituote Oy works as a collaboration partner. Its Liikekirjuri™ account chart is the basis of the standardisation of the data content.

  Time

  11/2022 – 09/2023.

  Goals

  • to demonstrate that the so-called “long income statement and balance sheet”, with standardised format and data content, is sufficient to cover various official reports (e.g., income tax return information)
  • to ascertain that the chart of accounts used by customers works as the basis of official reporting
  • to ensure that customers have the ability to produce any mappings necessary between charts of accounts if there is a deviation from the standard chart of accounts
  • to ensure that software vendors can output the data from the system in an interchangeable format
  • to understand how well the specifications being tested work in practice, and how much work the proposed procedure causes for client companies and software vendors and, correspondingly, how much benefits can be achieved from it.

  Practical trial work

  The balances of the general ledger accounts are produced in XBRL GL format according to the sample file. The material is synthetic, and the trial platform is MiniSuomi. The synthetic material is fully artificial and not based on real data.

  The first phase of the trial produced synthetic data, which is openly available in the MiniSuomi service. In the second phase of the trial, a further aim is to produce datasets of real companies for agencies to examine internally.

  More about the trial: elina.koskentalo(at)arccos.fi.

• eAddress trial in wallet and trust networks

  The digital business identity, wallets and other new technologies must be experimented with to obtain real experiences of using these to support decision-making.

  The use cases that will be worked on in the technical trial will be specified and selected together in joint process workshops with the stakeholders.

  The technical trial will be carried out in the MiniSuomi environment. The technical implementation of a wallet and trust network will be created in MiniSuomi for testing together with stakeholders the business identity eKuitin, in the use of procurement message and other digital documents.

  Participants

  OP, Visma, Posti Messaging, Tieke, Tietoevry, CGI, Nordea, DVV, Finance Finland, Nexigroup, ReceiptHero, Association of Finnish Municipalities, Kesko, Danskebank, Trafore, Tax Administration and State Treasury

  Time

  Workshops and first phase: November–December 2022. The next phase in 2023 is still open for participation.

  More information: esko.kaarlonen (at) valtiokonttori.fi

• PoC for the construction industry with Peppol procurement messages

  The goals of the proof of concept (PoC) are to verify the functionality of the Peppol network in the construction and construction product industries, including the use of standardised product data, and to evaluate the effects of electronic information exchange with the experience gained from the PoC. A technical experiment will also be carried out in connection with the PoC, in which realistic procurement messages will be transmitted in the Peppol network. At the same time, the PoC promotes the project’s goal of commissioning structured (Peppol) procurement messages.​

  ​The PoC promotes the digitalisation of the construction and construction product industries, offering as a solution the possibility to harmonise the business and product information in data exchange, reduce the costs of data processing and improve data quality. This allows, for example, the parties to send and receive standards-based structured messages.​​

  ​When it is more commonplace, the solution will enhance the efficiency of procurement-related transportation and other logistical processing and enable a reduction in CO2 emissions, as the predictability of operations increases.​

  ​The PoC applies to companies working as buyers in the construction industry and as suppliers in the construction product industry. It also affects logistics companies participating in product supply chains and research that develops supply chains for the construction industry: for example, the Building 2030 consortium projects, Peppol service providers and the State Treasury as the Peppol authority.​​

  ​The purpose of the PoC is to produce a practical example of the implications of the use and transmission of electronic business information in the construction and construction product industries. Based on the results, the construction industry ecosystem can plan and implement actions leading to the production use of Peppol messages. 

  The results of the PoC will be published in open webinars (or similar) and as their materials.​​

  Osallistujat

  The PoC is implemented in the MiniSuomi environment in cooperation with Fira Rakennus Oy, DBE Core Oy, Maventa Oy and the Real-Time Economy project.​​

  ​Time

  Start in January–February 2023

  More details: Hannu Kivinen, State Treasury,​ hannu.kivinen (at)valtiokonttori.fi

• E-invoicing to boost warehouse accounting

  The purpose of the trial is to test how communicating product and batch information as part of an e-invoice could facilitate the work of agricultural and small entrepreneurs and stakeholders, such as supervisory authorities, and lighten reporting. In the trial, product and batch information are added to the e-invoice, and mobile machine-reading of data will be tested, so that the information could be used in warehouse and block registrations as well as in the food producer’s traceability reporting. This would make the farmer’s everyday life smoother, since entries could be made where the work is done, i.e., in the barn and on the fields, for example. The trial will produce a guide for adding product batch information to the European e-invoice format and demonstrate the benefits of the solution for the industry and its stakeholders, for example in product traceability reporting.

  Participants

  The experiment is implemented as a MiniSuomi implementation in cooperation with KomKom Ky and the software vendor Suonentieto Oy.

  Time

  Start in February 2023

  More details: Johanna Kotipelto, Tax Administration, johanna.kotipelto (at) vero.fi